We could nerd out for hours about all the physics that go into this, but that’s for another day. The distortion of a tube circuit tends to sound more musical to our ears in part because of the gradual onset of saturation, and in part because most of that saturation comes from the more pleasant-sounding even-order harmonics. The latter tend to sound clean all the way up until the point that the signal starts to get so hot that the circuit saturates hard. If you drive it just slightly however, you will warm the signal with just a subtle hint of tube saturation.Īt normal levels, tubes tend to have more noticeable distortion than more modern solid state amplifiers. The short version of it is something like this: A vacuum tube heats something called a “ cathode“, causing electrons to flow from a plate through the battery and into the cathode, ultimately establishing a current.Īs you increase the signal, excess electrons are effectively ‘boiled off’ during the creation of the current (a process called “ thermionic emission“), and as you overdrive the circuit, you start to get distortion. You can find yourself wearing the most delicate cashmere, so light and warm and smooth you barely notice you’re wearing it, or you can layer on fuzzy wool blankets to the point where you start to get all hot and itchy.ĭiscovering how a tube actually works requires one to take a deep wormhole into the technicalities of circuit design and the world of physics. Just like there are a lot of types of blanket, there are also plenty of types of tube saturation.

It puts something of a saturation blanket around it.

You know that warm fuzzy feeling you get when wrapped tight in a blanket, drinking a hot cup of cocoa on a cold winter night? Well… that’s kind of what a tube does to your audio. Many musicians know that a tube is “that glass bulb looking thingy” you’ll find in many classic pieces of audio gear-but what exactly is it doing?

Whether you’re recording instruments, mixing a song, or even mastering, I think there is always a place for a tube or two-be it analog or virtual. So today, in an effort to uncover some of the best options for getting a convincing tube tone in the box, we’ll listen to a handful of the best tube saturation plugins on the market and try to discover what applications they are best suited for. Often, this means adding back in the missing analog saturation characteristics that can bring an otherwise sterile digital signal back to life. We have many tricks to do this, but leveraging the sound of tube circuits is one of the most effective approaches. One irony of making music today is that the more digital we have become, the more we seem to strive for ”analog warmth”. Now that tubes are a 100% optional feature in audio circuits, using them effectively is all about finding the right time and place to bring a tube into the signal path. Like guitarists, audio engineers have long exploited the characteristics of tubes (or “valves”) through any number of classic EQs, compressors, mic preamps and effects boxes. But vacuum tubes, which were once a necessary component of most audio circuits, can come as part of almost any piece of audio gear. The word “tube” causes many of us to instantly think of good ol’ classic tube guitar amps, “giving the guitar some glow”. Read on to hear 5+ of the top tube saturation plugins for yourself, and pick your favorites.

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